As US President Donald Trump and Russian ruler Vladimir Putin prepare to meet in Alaska later this week, the main topic of international discussion appears to be exactly how much land Ukraine must hand over to Russia in order to secure a ceasefire.
This apparent readiness to change borders by force and abandon one of the central principles of international law is extremely short-sighted and risks undermining norms established at great cost over many decades of conflict and confrontation. Ignoring the lessons of the past in this manner would profoundly weaken the world order and set the stage for future wars. Unless the current course is corrected, any temporary relief from Russian aggression will be more than offset by the grave damage done to global security.
Nobody in Ukraine would question the need to end the current war. The Ukrainian population has experienced barely imaginable suffering for more than three and a half years amid the largest European invasion since World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed. More than ten million have been forced to flee their homes. Dozens of Ukrainian towns and cities have been reduced to rubble.
Despite the unprecedented horror and trauma of Russia’s ongoing invasion, most Ukrainians recognize that limited territorial concessions will not bring a lasting peace. They note that Moscow’s so-called peace terms represent a thinly veiled demand for Kyiv’s capitulation, and understand perfectly well that Moscow’s goal is to destroy Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation. Indeed, this process of national erasure is already well underway in the approximately 20 percent of Ukraine currently under Russian occupation. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that very few Ukrainians believe offering Putin more land will somehow end the bloodshed.
Voice of Ukraine 